damned_institute | Night 51: Main Hallway 2-Center

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Night 51: Main Hallway 2-Center

[From here.]

By the time Sechs had reached the center hall which opened up to the space that overlooked the sun room bellow, he was still feeling a bit winded from his inner battle with his living dark psyche. He hadn't expected his energy to be drained like that! It had taken more than just mental concentration to push his unwanted passenger out of his awareness; it seemed to have strained his physical body in the process as well. His fight wasn't as effective as Kibitoshin's ki energy, but it was still enough to ease the worst of the drug's side-effects for the time being. Not to mention, his little personal victory made Sechs a tad too cocky for his own good...

"Where the HELL are you Alita?!" Sechs barked as he strolled down the hall, his big boots thundering against the floor as he marched through the shadows, "If you're really here, I'm gonna find ya! I've hunted you down before, Alita! I can do it again!"

According to the copies he made of the institute maps, there was another section of the second floor that had been left unmarked. In the southern center of the building, right across the balcony that overlooked the first floor, was a central unmarked room with a sturdy-looking door, a pretty important-looking one too if you'd ask Sechs! Maybe the door led to a storage room containing the stolen bodies and possessions of the institute's prisoners? Or perhaps a way to the third floor and possibly even Landel himself?

"And how 'bout you, you sick, slimy excuse for a doctor?!" the Replica went on, not bothering to lower his voice. He couldn't help but grin viciously in spite of himself and the dangerous situation at hand, "That stupid drug of yours isn't working as well as you thought it would! Well, tough! I'm NO ONE'S rat!"

The Replica stopped before the center door. No knobs or any panels to open it could be seen. Oh well. Sechs had his axe and a giant boost to his confidence to give it a shot. He had all night.

"Either way!" he growled, a hunger for destruction flashing in his amber eyes, "I'm gonna find somebody I want tonight! Nothing can stop me!"

Leaving his flashlight switched on, Sechs stuffed it into his pocket, allowing the bright head to stick out and illuminate some of the Replica's surroundings. With both hands free, Sechs gripped his double bit axe, lifted it over his shoulder, and then swung it against the door.

Ah! Solving his problems with nothing but destructive brute force, just the way Sechs liked it!

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[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/968874.html?thread=72399530#t72399530)]

As they entered the next hall, Kratos saw immediately that there would be no need for extreme measures: patient and monster were quite literally locked in battle. He looked back once again to ensure that Rita was near before beginning to move silently and cautiously across the hall, making sure that the gleam of his sword would not be accidentally noticed.

The remaining shreds of the knightly part of him were berating him for leaving a fellow patient in such a terribly compromising situation--by the gods, he was being strangled. But they had to keep going; Rita probably wouldn't appreciate him running off into someone else's battle. And in his current state, there probably would not be much that he could do.

What a pity. One of the ... lower beings was taking the good fight, but Kronen was enjoying watching the bloodshed without actually getting his hands dirty. Then some other people had to enter the area and interrupt his leisure.

He didn't move from the dark shadows just yet, but wound himself up and perhaps, if his prey were paying attention, they could hear the telling sounds of the end coming for them.

*tick ... tick ... tick ...*

Kratos' presumption received a nod; Rita was indeed light on her feet when she needed to be. She moved quickly and quietly as she followed the swordsman into the central part of the hallway. She'd turned off her flashlight as they neared the scuffle, not wanting to draw the attention of the beast assaulting what appeared to be another patient. Said patient was adequately armed, at least, so Rita was able to focus on their destination without feeling too guilty.

Was this the kind of place Landel's was? A place where patients would need to climb over the bodies of their fellow patients to reach their goals? Though Rita didn't hesitate in her movements, there was certainly hesitation in her mind.

But then, there was something that made Rita pause mid-step. A mechanical noise, coming from somewhere that wasn't where the ongoing fight was taking place.

"... What's that sound?" Rita whispered to Kratos, slowing to a cautious pace. It was possible that there was some kind of machine up ahead, but it was better to ask than to assume.

They were proceeding fairly steadily when all of a sudden there was a noise in the distance. It was a ticking noise, like a clock, except Kratos's intuition immediately told him that this was no such thing.

"Probably not a friend and probably nothing so simple as a machine, knowing this place," he whispered back. That was the easy part to figure out. The hard part was determining what exactly had been awoken. "If we engage it, and the battle turns sour" - which it was most likely to do - "don't hesitate to run."

He kept moving forward, but now at the same, cautious pace as Rita. If anything was up ahead, it would see him first, which was the objective.

Herrlich! Kroenen rather enjoyed it when the little ones didn't flee right away, but he did have his orders. They would not pass by him. There was the hiss of metal on metal as he drew the tonfa and stepped closer to the pair.

tick tick tick tick

Once he was visible to them, it was plain that no, this wasn't a machine or a friend. He spun the blades almost absently and considered the man before coming to rest directly in front of them.

When the source of the noise revealed itself, Rita immediately flicked her flashlight back on, illuminating the man - machine? - that stood in their way. Light reflected off the blades he held; it was clear that this was no ally.

"You better get out of our way, or you'll be sorry!" Rita barked at the obstacle. The mage then tucked her flashlight under her arm, freeing her hands to begin casting a spell. Below her, a magic circle of a red-orange color began to glow, with red-hot sparks of magic rising into the air from it. Between her hands, a bright light began to gather.

Rita acknowledged Kratos' advice, but she wasn't going to make running a priority unless there was no other choice. If this thing didn't get out of their way, it was going to get fried.

Their foe was using an unfamiliar sort of weapon, although Kratos was sure he had seen those of Mizuho using something vaguely similar. The two blades were shorter than his broadsword and, by the careless way that the man twirled them, light. He could probably expect a quick series of blows at close range, which did resemble the way Sheena preferred to fight.

How to deal with this...well, he couldn't do it by rushing in and leaving Rita at risk, especially while she was casting. It would be better to let their opponent make the first move and give him a better idea of what they were up against.

Keeping his sword on point, Kratos waited. He hadn't fought a serious battle left-handed in some time; this would be a good way to see if several hundred years' worth of training was good for anything.

Sorry? Him? That was amusing. Her little light show was interesting as well and he watched them, head cocked to one side, chest ticking merrily away.

He didn't make the first move, simply stood there, silently, and waited for the outcome of this little trick...

Wasn't he going to attack? When the spell was fully charged - at least, to the extent that Rita could conjure it with her limited abilities - the light between her hands had transformed into a fireball, and Rita was keeping it ready to use once their opponent made his first move.

But the move didn't come, and the three of them were left staring each other down. Rita could feel her own energy slowly draining to sustain the spell. She couldn't wait around forever.

"All right, I warned you!" she snapped, breaking the silence and raising the fireball threateningly. She told him to move, he didn't move, and now he would have no right to complain if he got burned. Her patience gone, Rita shifted her hands so that her palms faced the strange-looking man, and in an instant the fireball was launched straight at its target.

[fffff sorry for the late tag]

The machine/man hadn't moved, and Kratos inwardly sighed. Stalemate. This was the worst because eventually one of them would be forced to make a move, and he was the one with less time.

Thankfully, Rita's spell changed the dynamic a bit. Of course, it was only one fireball - easy enough to simply sidestep - but it was an opportunity. The swordsman stepped out of the way as the fireball hurtled past him and easily closed the gap between him and their mystery opponent. As he drew closer, the ticking noise he'd heard earlier became more pronounced...what was the cause of such a thing?

In any case, if he was going to strike first, he had to make it count. Better to take out one of the blades and even the odds: Kratos cut diagonally with the sword, aiming for the man's right wrist.

(I think I win the late tag game. Sorry! ; ; )

Kroenen saw both coming and had only a split second to act. Neither the fire nor the blade would actually hurt him, but he wasn't interested in letting either touch him anyway. He whirled into motion, bringing up a tonfa to block the wrist strike and used his own momentum to pivot out of the way of the fire. There was the smell of burning clothing-apparently he didn't move quite far enough and it had gotten close enough to sear a line over his side.

Still, he kept moving forward into the armed man's defense, bringing up his other blade to the man's chest, intending to slice his way through clothing and skin.

He dodged it? Now that was just insulting.

"Tough guy, huh!?" Not about to be deterred, Rita shifted her hands back into their casting position and started on another spell. Just as before, a magic circle manifested below her as Rita gathered the power she needed and ran through the spell's formula in her head. "This one won't miss!" she hollered at the metal man as she prepared her next strike.

The distance between Kratos and the enemy had already been closed, but Rita could hold her spell long enough to wait for an opening. The blast from the fireball's impact seemed to be much less than normal... even for an indirect hit. That was disappointing, but in a situation like this, it could be advantageous. It meant that Kratos wouldn't need to get too far away to avoid being caught in the blast and the flames.

For now, Rita waited with the fireball slowly forming between her hands. Sweat gathered at her forehead, and she felt it on her palms as well. It wasn't strange for a mage to feel this exhausted after ten or twenty consecutive spells, but two? Rita's pride wouldn't allow her to acknowledge the strain she was beginning to feel in her body.

Kratos had expected the fireball to be dodged, but he hadn't expected the machine-man to react so swiftly and be completely unfazed by either attack. He could have sworn that he'd seen Rita's spell hit their enemy, and the smell of burnt something or another had immediately hit him, and yet...no reaction. It was almost as if he was fighting an angel of Cruxis, a lifeless being.

The thought was chilling - Kratos had never had much love for lifeless beings - but unfortunately, there was little time to dwell on it. As the second tonfa came whirling up to meet him, the angel narrowly twisted out of the way, noticing, out of the corner of his eye, that Rita was preparing a second fireball. And of course, it fell to him to give her an opportunity.

Quickly hopping back to give himself some needed space, he drew his sword back and then swept it forward swiftly, scraping it along the floor as he released the mana focused into the blade. "Demon Fang!" The white shock wave had little distance to cover; it was relatively weak, but perhaps it would act as the distraction Rita needed.

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Night 51: Main Hallway 2-Center

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